Impact of Juvenile Stocking Size on the Major Carp Production in a Minor Reservoir,Bibinagar, India

The present study deals with the impact of juvenile stocking sizes of the major carp on production in a minor reservoir, Bibinagar, Nalgonda, India. Reservoir surface area equaled over 23.8 ha and water from the reservoir was used for irrigation and fisheries. Four experiments were conducted for 4 years from 2000–2001 to 2003–2004. The experiments were planned in such a way that every year juvenile stocking size was held constant and subsequent fish production analyzed. During the first year’s experiment (2000–2001) a stocking size of 25–30 mm (fry) was maintained. Similarly 50–55 (advanced fry), 75–80 mm (fingerling) and 100–105 mm (advanced fingerling) were stocked during 2001–2002, 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 respectively. Uniform yearly stocking densities (2000/ha) were established in each experiment in the month of July and fish were harvested in June of the subsequent year. Major carp production was enhanced with larger stocking size. Yearly productions equaled 144.00, 231.48, 632.91 and 1005.03 kg/ha/year with the above stocking sizes. Variation in stocking sizes had significant (P<0.05) effects on fish production. The number of fish per kg production decreased gradually with increases in stocking size with an average value of 3.97. Reservoir production of catla was the most abundant species, followed by rohu, common carp, mrigal and grass carp. These results show that stocking size has a great impact on fish production and the stocking of advanced fingerlings will provide maximum carp production in minor reservoirs in India.     

Synthesis and SAR of novel oxazolidinones: discovery of ranbezolid

Novel oxazolidinones were synthesized containing a number of substituted five-membered heterocycles attached to the 'piperazinyl-phenyl-oxazolidinone' core of eperezolid. Further, the piperazine ring of the core was replaced by other diamino-heterocycles. These modifications led to several compounds with potent activity against a spectrum of resistant and susceptible gram-positive organisms, along with the identification of ranbezolid (RBx 7644) as a clinical candidate.     

2,3-Ethylene- and 2,3-trimethylene-bridged analogues of the group III metabotropic glutamate receptor ligand 2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid

The racemic trans- and cis-isomers of 1-amino-2-phosphonomethyl-cyclobutanecarboxylic acid (5 and 6) and 1-amino-2-phosphonomethyl-cyclopentanecarboxylic acid (7 and 8) were synthesized as extensions of the mGluR4 agonists trans- and cis-1-amino-2-phosphonomethyl-cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (3 and 4). Although the methylene bridge in 3 and 4 allows for retention of affinity toward the mGluR4 receptor, increasing the bridging unit to the ethylene group as in 5 and 6 or to the trimethylene group as in 7 and 8 introduces sufficient steric hindrance to eliminate affinity for the mGluR4 receptor.     

Anti-malarial activity of Baylis-Hillman adducts from substituted 2-chloronicotinaldehydes

New Baylis–Hillman adducts are synthesized based on substituted 2-chloronicotinaldehydes and screened for their in vitro anti-malarial activity against chloroquine sensitive and chloroquine resistant Plasmodium falciparum. Out of the six new compounds synthesized and screened, 2b, 2c and 2d compounds showed substantial anti-malarial activity.     

Isolation and characterization of phenanthrene-degrading <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sphingomonas paucimobilis</Emphasis> strain ZX4

Phenanthrene-degrading bacterium strain ZX4 was isolated from an oil-contaminated soil, and identified as Sphingomonas paucimobilis based on 16S rDNA sequence, cellular fatty acid composition, mol% G + C and Biolog-GN tests. Besides phenanthrene, strain ZX4 could also utilize naphthalene, fluorene and other aromatic compounds. The growth on salicylic acid and catechol showed that the strain degraded phenanthrene via salicylate pathway, while the assay of catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase revealed catechol could be metabolized through meta-cleavage pathway. Three genes, including two of meta-cleavage operon genes and one of GST encoding gene were obtained. The order of genes arrangement was similar to S-type meta-pathway operons. The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rDNA sequence and meta-pathway gene both revealed that strain ZX4 is clustered with strains from genus Sphingomonas.     

Ventral migration of early-born neurons requires Dcc and is essential for the projections of primary afferents in the spinal cord

Neuronal migration and lamina-specific primary afferent projections are crucial for establishing spinal cord circuits, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we report that in mice lacking Dcc (deleted in colorectal cancer), some early-born neurons could not migrate ventrally in the spinal cord. Conversely, forced expression of Dcc caused ventral migration and prevented dorsolateral migration of late-born spinal neurons. In the superficial layer of the spinal cord of Dcc-/- mutants, mislocalized neurons are followed by proprioceptive afferents, while their presence repels nociceptive afferents through Sema3a. Thus, our study has shown that Dcc is a key molecule required for ventral migration of early-born neurons, and that appropriate neuronal migration is a prerequisite for, and coupled to, normal projections of primary afferents in the developing spinal cord.     

First report of a novel plant lysozyme with both antifungal and antibacterial activities

A novel lysozyme exhibiting antifungal activity and with a molecular mass of 14.4kDa in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was isolated from mung bean (Phaseolus mungo) seeds using a procedure that involved aqueous extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion exchange chromatography on CM-Sephadex, and high-performance liquid chromatography on POROS HS-20. Its N-terminal sequence was very different from that of hen egg white lysozyme. Its pI was estimated to be above 9.7. The specific activity of the lysozyme was 355U/mg at pH 5.5 and 30 degrees C. The lysozyme exhibited a pH optimum at pH 5.5 and a temperature optimum at 55 degrees C. It is reported herein, for the first time, that a novel plant lysozyme exerted an antifungal action toward Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Pythium aphanidermatum, Sclerotium rolfsii, and Botrytis cinerea, in addition to an antibacterial action against Staphylococcus aureus.     

Cytokine-induced stable neuronal differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in a serum/feeder cell-free condition

The characteristics and multilineage differentiation potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM MSC) remain controversial. This study aimed to characterize human BM MSC isolated by plastic adherent or antibody selection and their neuronal differentiation potential using growth factors or chemical inducing agents. MSC were found to express low levels of neuronal markers: neurofilament-M, beta tubulin III, and neuron specific enolase. Under a serum- and feeder cell-free condition, basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and platelet-derived growth factor induced neuronal morphology in MSC. In addition to the above markers, these cells expressed neurotransmitters or associated proteins: gamma-aminobutyric acid, tyrosine hydroxylase and serotonin. These changes were maintained for up to 3 months in all bone marrow specimens (N = 6). In contrast, butylated hydroxyanisole and dimethylsulfoxide were unable to induce sustained neuronal differentiation. Our results show that MSC isolated by two different procedures produced identical lineage differentiation with defined growth factors in a serum- and feeder cell-free condition.     

Effects of elevated CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and nitrogen on wheat growth and photosynthesis

The effects of nitrogen [75 and 150 kg (N) ha⁻¹] and elevated CO₂ on growth, photosynthetic rate, contents of soluble leaf proteins and activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and nitrate reductase (NR) were studied on wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. HD-2285) grown in open top chambers under either ambient (AC) or elevated (EC) CO₂ concentration (350 ± 50, 600 ± 50 μmol mol⁻¹) and analyzed at 40, 60 and 90 d after sowing. Plants grown under EC showed greater photosynthetic rate and were taller and attained greater leaf area along with higher total plant dry mass at all growth stages than those grown under AC. Total soluble and Rubisco protein contents decreased under EC but the activation of Rubisco was higher at EC with higher N supply. Nitrogen increased the NR activity whereas EC reduced it. Thus, EC causes increased growth and P_N ability per unit uptake of N in wheat plants, even if N is limiting.     

Towards precise classification of cancers based on robust gene functional expression profiles

Background

Despite the continuous production of genome sequence for a number of organisms, reliable, comprehensive, and cost effective gene prediction remains problematic. This is particularly true for genomes for which there is not a large collection of known gene sequences, such as the recently published chicken genome. We used the chicken sequence to test comparative and homology-based gene-finding methods followed by experimental validation as an effective genome annotation method.

Results

We performed experimental evaluation by RT-PCR of three different computational gene finders, Ensembl, SGP2 and TWINSCAN, applied to the chicken genome. A Venn diagram was computed and each component of it was evaluated. The results showed that de novo comparative methods can identify up to about 700 chicken genes with no previous evidence of expression, and can correctly extend about 40% of homology-based predictions at the 5' end.

Conclusions

De novo comparative gene prediction followed by experimental verification is effective at enhancing the annotation of the newly sequenced genomes provided by standard homology-based methods.